Dear Spring Time Runner

Dear Spring Time Runner,

WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?

I realize it is one of the nicest days we have had all spring, but where were you all winter?

I ran all winter long. Tredged throught the sleet and snow. Spent hours perfecting my "run and not slip and fall" stride to get through the ice patches that devour our lovely lake front path in the frozen months. I put on my super duper warm under armor pants and decked layer upon layer of neck warmers, wic shirts, and special runners gloves. My i-pod even stopped working on multiple runs because IT WAS TOO COLD.

Where did you come from? Why do you have to show up looking like you just spent three weeks on the beach in Jamaica, wearing your cute running outfits, your heart rate monitors around your waist, and showing off your 6-pack abs? AND WHY DO YOU HAVE TO PASS ME ONE AFTER ANOTHER WITH THAT SINISTER LOOK ON YOUR FACE AND GRANDIOSE GRIN THAT SUGGESTS YOU, MA'AM, ARE BETTER THAN ME?

Why are you smiling you will ask me? Because I know something you don't know:

I put more heart into each tread of my shoe than any of you could even imagine. Those lake front paths are splattered with remnants of my emotional upheavels, my excitement about life, and on those beaches lie my worries--shed one after another with each step, each breath, each run.

I'll take my pegasus shoes and worn out running shorts and join the 10 minute milers once again :)

With love,

C2

P.S. It's really annoying when you speedily pass us going a million miles per hour, only to have us pass you at our leisurely pace two minutes later, then to repeate the process over and over and over. We all know it is because you are out of shape and don't know how to pace yourself.